On February 20, I'm hoping to go to my first swim meet......ever! :eek: I swam on the team when I was younger, but I never competed. I'm incredibly nervous already and I have no idea what to expect because I have never been to a meet before. I swam with my friend who is a coach, and I have what seems like a lot of work to do on my strokes. How realistic is it that I be ready by February? Obviously I won't be at the top of the field, but I'm hoping to at least not make a fool out of myself. But what I really want to know is what to expect. How do I train, and how do I taper? When do I start tapering? Do I even need to taper? Any good pre-meet workout ideas? Any thing that anyone can suggest would be helpful!!! Thanx a bunch!!
~Kyra
Parents
Former Member
Hi Kyra - the first time I went to swim meet as an adult I was very nervous - I swam in high school but that was eons ago and I didn't know what to expect. I was also worried about how I would look in my suit, etc. Silly stuff, really.
But when I walked into the pool area I was immedately struck at the variety of swimmers: old, young, in between, fast, slow, large, small, and everyone in between. And no one cared!! And as Guvnuh said, you will be seeded with people you're own speed so no worries about being blown away!
The second thing that struck me was how fun swim meets are. There was a woman swimming the 400 IM who was 89 years old! (yes, 89!). It took her a long time to finish (and it was a long course pool) but when she got out everyone clapped and cheered! I tend to get into a zone, especially as it gets closer to race time, but I've noticed that 99% of the people are friendly and I've even had people say, "good race" or wish me luck and vice versa. And if you keep going to meets, you'll see the same people over and over and you'll eventually make new friends.
As for goggles - on my very first race of my very first meet, my goggles fell off! 400 free, long course. I just shoved em back on and kept going.... But I've learned to tuck my chin and tighten those babies up! Even if it's uncomfortable it's worth not having them slide down your face, which also happened to me on a 50 butterfly event. I swam with them in my mouth the whole way and lost my contacts at the bottom of UC Santa Cruz's pool...oh well. Live and learn.
I've found that I need at least 1500 yards of initial warm up, not including warm ups and cool downs between races. I'll start with kick/drill/swim sets, a few sprints, and my coach will have me do a set of 5x100's to get a feel for how I want to pace a longer race. I swim the mid/long distance free events, and I need a lot of warm up yards. I also stretch in between to keep loose and I drink a lot of water. I also have a peanut butter sandwich handy and take a few bites between events. I'm usually nervous and don't have an appetite but I try to eat a little anyway so my blood sugar doens't drop and I end up bonking (which would be a disaster).
Good luck! And remember - have fun and experiment. Try different races/strokes; do a race you wouldn't normally do just for fun! You might like it. I tried a 100 IM once - not my thing but it was a learning experience.
Let us know how you do!!
Kari:cool:
Hi Kyra - the first time I went to swim meet as an adult I was very nervous - I swam in high school but that was eons ago and I didn't know what to expect. I was also worried about how I would look in my suit, etc. Silly stuff, really.
But when I walked into the pool area I was immedately struck at the variety of swimmers: old, young, in between, fast, slow, large, small, and everyone in between. And no one cared!! And as Guvnuh said, you will be seeded with people you're own speed so no worries about being blown away!
The second thing that struck me was how fun swim meets are. There was a woman swimming the 400 IM who was 89 years old! (yes, 89!). It took her a long time to finish (and it was a long course pool) but when she got out everyone clapped and cheered! I tend to get into a zone, especially as it gets closer to race time, but I've noticed that 99% of the people are friendly and I've even had people say, "good race" or wish me luck and vice versa. And if you keep going to meets, you'll see the same people over and over and you'll eventually make new friends.
As for goggles - on my very first race of my very first meet, my goggles fell off! 400 free, long course. I just shoved em back on and kept going.... But I've learned to tuck my chin and tighten those babies up! Even if it's uncomfortable it's worth not having them slide down your face, which also happened to me on a 50 butterfly event. I swam with them in my mouth the whole way and lost my contacts at the bottom of UC Santa Cruz's pool...oh well. Live and learn.
I've found that I need at least 1500 yards of initial warm up, not including warm ups and cool downs between races. I'll start with kick/drill/swim sets, a few sprints, and my coach will have me do a set of 5x100's to get a feel for how I want to pace a longer race. I swim the mid/long distance free events, and I need a lot of warm up yards. I also stretch in between to keep loose and I drink a lot of water. I also have a peanut butter sandwich handy and take a few bites between events. I'm usually nervous and don't have an appetite but I try to eat a little anyway so my blood sugar doens't drop and I end up bonking (which would be a disaster).
Good luck! And remember - have fun and experiment. Try different races/strokes; do a race you wouldn't normally do just for fun! You might like it. I tried a 100 IM once - not my thing but it was a learning experience.
Let us know how you do!!
Kari:cool:
